MINNEAPOLIS – The University of Minnesota (UMN) has cancelled plans to sponsor training for an abortionist after backlash from pro-life students.
UMN recently announced plans to sponsor a Reproductive Rights Advocacy Fellowship, hiring a doctor to “spend one year as a ‘trainer in training,’ learning to perform abortion and related procedures.” The position would require the doctor to learn procedures like “vacuum aspiration of the uterus” and spend at least “20 days at a high volume abortion site, getting training and becoming a trainer.”
The new position received instant backlash from pro-life student groups on campus. Nick Johnson, President of UMN Students for Human Life, called out the university for violating the moral standards expected of education institutions by promoting abortion.
“The university has a job to uphold a high moral standard being educators,” Johnson told Alpha News. “They are clearly violating these principles by further engaging in abortion promotion.”
Johnson also called attention to the public funding UMN receives, saying it is “frightening” that taxpayer money could be used to support abortions.
“It is frightening that a publicly funded university is actively promoting and supporting abortion here on campus,” Johnson said.
Johnson told Alpha News the university was receiving “lots of pressure from students and activists groups” causing the fellowship to be cancelled.
Alpha News reached out to UMN for comment. Jakub Tolar, MD, Dean of the Medical School and Interim Vice President for Health Sciences, confirmed the university is no longer hiring for the position, saying they plan to “examine the value of this training.”
“We have pulled the position from the web site and are no longer hiring for this role,” Tolar said. “We will examine the value of this training in the context of our mission along with the values of the community.”
This is not the first time UMN has come under fire for unsavory practices. A 2017 report from the U.S. House of Representatives found UMN to have purchased aborted fetal tissue for research. The issue originally came to light in 2015 following the release of undercover videos recorded by David Daleiden of the Center for Medical Progress, exposing the sale of the remains of aborted babies at Planned Parenthood and other abortion facilities. Lawmakers questioned UMN about their participation in fetal tissue research to which the school originally denied any involvement. It was not until Alpha News discovered purchase orders of fetal tissue by UMN that the university admitted to the practice.
*UPDATE as of 9:45 p.m.*
Following publication, Alpha News was made aware of contradicting statements from Jakub Tolar, Dean of the Medical School and Interim Vice President for Health Sciences. In a letter to Senate President Michelle Fischbach (R-Paynesville) and obtained by Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, Tolar indicated the fellowship was only being put on pause, saying he does not “intend to fill this position for at least one year.”
